After waving goodbye to her family at the airport, Zilla Van Den Born, 25, went to extraordinary lengths to fool her friends into thinking she was travelling through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos by mocking up photographs of exotic food and tourist attractions.

Little did they know Ms Van Den Born, from Amsterdam, was actually sat on her sofa.

Dutch student sits on sofa!

The backpack of lies was all part of her university graduation project, to show how social media does not always reflect reality. She said: “My goal was to prove how common and easy it is to distort reality. I did this to show people that we filter and manipulate what we show on social media.”

Sure. And look at how the media manipualtes us. Because she did leave the house.

She went swimming:

Amazingly, pictures of the Dutch student snorkelling in turquoise water with tropical fish around her were taken at a local swimming pool and then digitally altered at home.

But Perring never noticed:

Ms Van Den Born even photoshopped herself onto tuk tuks, beautiful beaches and luxury resorts in the 42 days she spent hidden in her Amsterdam apartment with her boyfriend – the only person in the know.

But she wasn’t hidden in her Amsterdam flat. She went out swimming.

And she visited other places:

The freelance graphic designer also took photos of tropical aquariums at Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo, went to a butterfly garden, bought exotic Asian souvenirs at a market and cooked up Thai meals in her own kitchen.

She went out lots.

She even spent time in tanning booths to get a healthy holiday glow and sent postcards, which no-one noticed were stamped with Dutch postmarks.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Oxford, students read about the student who never left her room for 42 says (but did – lots), and say. “Meh. Is that all?